Who Are You Really
by Lauriverfanboy1
Summary: Starts out in the middle of episode 5x10. This is how I think the episode should've gone and consequently, how that would affect the rest of the season. Laurel Lance has returned from the grave, but can she be trusted, considering the circumstances of her resurrection? Read to find out. Like always, this is a Lauriver fic. Not advised for Olicity shippers.
1. Chapter 1

"This can't be right." Oliver said as he looked at the footage Cisco had just sent them.

"What can't be right?" Felicity asked.

"This is live security footage from STAR labs and it shows Earth 2 Laurel still in her cage." Oliver said.

"Then who is it that just attacked us and trashed this place?" Rene asked.

"I don't know, but I need to confirm something. Rene, how do you feel about desecration?" Oliver asked.

"Wait, Oliver, you want to dig up Laurel's grave?" Felicity asked.

"I need to completely rule out that it's not really our Laurel who attacked us. Rene, I want you and Rory to head to the cemetery and let us know what you find." Oliver said.

"Why just me and Rory?" Rene asked.

"Because you 2 are the only ones on this team who didn't know Laurel before her death, so you won't have as much of an emotional reaction. Now, I have to go handle something for John but text me if you get anything." Oliver said as he headed out.

"Felicity, do you really think it's possible that this is our Laurel?" Curtis asked.

"I don't know, but bottom line is that if she's working for Prometheus, she's going down." Felicity said.

"Are you sure Felicity? After all, Laurel was your friend." Curtis pointed out.

"If that really was our Laurel, then she wouldn't have attacked us." Felicity said darkly.

* * *

Oliver had just finished his meeting with Chase when his phone rang and he saw it was Rene.

"What's up?" Oliver asked.

"Rory and I just finished and just dug up an empty grave. The casket and body are gone." Rene said.

"So that means that that really was our Laurel. Get this information back to the team and await my command before proceeding further." Oliver said as he felt his heart start racing as he felt a mixture of emotions at the prospect of Laurel being alive again.

However, before he could dwell on it any further, his phone rang again and this time he saw that it was a blocked number.

"This is mayor Queen." Oliver said.

"Oliver, it's me, Laurel." Laurel said.

"How are you really alive?" Oliver asked.

"I wasn't expecting that sort of greeting." Laurel said.

"I know it's really you Laurel. Now what do you want?" Oliver asked.

"To meet with you and explain everything. Alone." Laurel said.

Oliver considered it for a minute before saying "Where do you want to meet?"

"My statue. Tonight at midnight." Laurel said.

"I'll be there." Oliver assured her.

* * *

"You can't seriously be thinking of meeting with her without backup can you?" Felicity asked after Oliver told them all.

"I don't seem to recall asking for your opinion Felicity. Yes, I am going to meet Laurel alone, since we both know that even with her powers, I can beat her in a fight easily, though I'm hoping that by going alone, I can prevent one. I don't want any of you there tonight." Oliver said.

"What does John think about this?" Felicity asked.

"He's all for it if it means that there's a chance we can get Laurel back." Oliver said as he left, making it clear that he was done discussing this.

* * *

That night, the Green Arrow was standing in front of the Black Canary memorial when he heard footsteps behind him and he turned to see Laurel standing in front of him.

"Hey Ollie. Thank you for coming." Laurel said.

"You said you'd explain why you attacked us. I'm listening." Green Arrow said.

"Prometheus asked his teacher to use another Lazarus pit to bring me back to life. Since the pit I was put in was unused, I didn't get a bloodlust, but there was another side effect." Laurel said.

"A real canary cry." Green Arrow said and Laurel nodded.

"After that, Prometheus tried to convince me to work with him to destroy you as revenge for all the pain you've caused me during my life, leading up to my death, but I refused. Then he threatened to kill me." Laurel said.

"You never let the threat of death stop you before. That's kind of what got you killed the first time." Green Arrow reminded her.

"Then he threatened my dad." Laurel said and now it all made sense.

"He threatened to kill your father if you didn't work with him just like how Darhk threatened to kill you if your father didn't help him." Green Arrow realized and Laurel nodded.

"I hated doing what I did, but I'd already caused my dad enough pain already, I couldn't stand the thought of Prometheus killing him because of me. So I agreed to work with Prometheus to keep my dad alive. But now that I've double crossed him, I'm sure that my dad is a dead man." Laurel said.

"We can keep your father safe, but you need to tell me everything you know about Prometheus." Green Arrow said and Laurel could tell that he felt like a huge burden had just been lifted off his shoulders as his position relaxed.

"I don't know much about him, he always wore a mask around me, but he did give me this to communicate with him." Laurel said as she pulled out a phone.

However, suddenly they heard bullet shots ring out and Green Arrow and Laurel turned to see Mr. Terrific, Ragman and Wilddog standing there, all of them prepared to attack.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: By the way, Oliver is not in a relationship with Susan Williams, in case you were wondering.**

* * *

"What are you doing?" Green Arrow demanded as he raised his bow at his teammates.

"Felicity didn't trust Laurel not to betray you, so she sent us as backup and she told us to act since it looked like Laurel was aiming a weapon at you." Ragman said.

"First off, it was a cell phone, not a weapon, and second off, since when do you take orders from Felicity? Last time I checked, I was in charge and I gave you direct orders not to engage or even be here." Green Arrow demanded.

"Don't blame them, this was all me. We're taking her down." Overwatch said over the comms.

"The hell you are." Laurel said as she unleashed her Canary Cry, sending the others flying back.

"No, stop." Green Arrow said, trying to prevent a conflict, only to be met with Wilddog's bullets and Ragman's rags.

"She attacked us. Overwatch is right, we need to take her out." Wilddog said.

"I was only acting in self defense." Laurel protested as Green Arrow fired an arrow into the sky, causing an explosion knocking both sides back.

"Enough. We'll discuss this later, at length, but for right now, why don't we go back to the bunker." Green Arrow said and the recruits could tell that not only was this not up for debate, but they'd just seriously pissed off their boss.

* * *

"Did you really just bring her in here? Considering what happened the last time she was down here?" Felicity asked as the team and Laurel entered the bunker.

"Watch it Felicity. You are thin ice as it is right now for pulling that little stunt, so for once, shut up." Oliver growled, shutting Felicity up.

"I really am sorry about that. I did what I had to do to protect my father from Prometheus." Laurel said.

"Wait, Prometheus is threatening your old man? Blondie neglected to tell us that." Rene said, looking at Felicity.

"I thought you guys could hear what we were saying?" Oliver asked.

"No, we were only in seeing distance, not hearing, especially since you 2 both kept your voices down. Felicity was the one who was listening in on the comms. She never told us that Prometheus was blackmailing Laurel by threatening her father." Curtis said.

"Again, we'll discuss this later, but right now, we need to figure out what to do about Prometheus." Oliver said.

"Especially since he's bound to know that I turned on him and will probably be gunning after my dad now." Laurel said.

"Not if I can help it. I already put a protective detail on Quentin after Thea told me she sent him to rehab, since I'm not taking any chances that Prometheus will try to get to me through your dad while he's exposed and I'll call Barry and ask him to keep tabs on your mom." Oliver assured her.

"Good, now if you don't mind, I think I'm gonna work on how to tell my dad that I'm alive while you guys hash it out." Laurel said as she walked out of the room.

"Felicity, what the hell were you thinking? You knew that was our Laurel. You knew that she was acting under duress. Why the hell did you try to take her out?" Oliver asked her.

"I don't care what she says, she still worked with Prometheus and she was going betray us sooner or later, so I decided to take care of her quickly." Felicity said.

"Bullshit. If I recall correctly, if there's anyone here I can't trust, it's you, considering how you've already pulled the ripcord twice when the going got too tough for you. In fact, it took Laurel dying for you to come back to the team last time. I don't think you of all people have the right to judge Laurel. Especially when you didn't even have the authority in the first place. I gave specific orders for the team not to engage, but you decided to ignore them, which is insubordination. You had no authority to make that call." Oliver said before turning to the others.

"And what the hell were you thinking following her orders. Last time I checked, I'm this team's leader, not Felicity, and I gave you orders to stand down. Care to explain?" Oliver asked.

"Not really." Rene said.

"Felicity practically nagged us to go until we agreed just to shut her up. And then from where we were hiding, it looked like Laurel was aiming a weapon at you." Rory said.

"There will still be consequences for disobedience. You thought I was going hard on you before in training, you haven't seen anything yet." Oliver said.

"What about me?" Felicity asked, hoping to get off scot free.

"You're going to be training with Laurel for the next 2 weeks and I'm going to tell that while she can't use her powers against you, she does not have to hold back." Oliver said and Felicity paled at the thought.

"Now, you're all dismissed for tonight, so go home and get some rest, because trust me, you'll need it." Oliver said.

* * *

"So, how'd that go?" Laurel asked as Oliver approached her in the living quarters.

"Well I'm going to whooping Rene, Curtis and Rory's asses in training and you get do the same to Felicity." Oliver said.

"Excuse me?" Laurel asked.

"Felicity's punishment for insubordination is that she has to train with you and you do not have to hold back." Oliver said.

"That will be fun, I've honestly been wanting to kick her ass for awhile, even before I died." Laurel said.

"Really, why's that?" Oliver asked.

"Because she took you away from me." Laurel said.

"So you meant what you said before you died?" Oliver asked.

"Every word. But now I think you have to answer a very important question for me." Laurel said.

"Shoot." Oliver said, though he had an idea of what the question was.

"Do you still have any possible feelings for me?" Laurel asked.

Rather than responding, Oliver just kissed her deeply and the amount of passion Laurel felt in that kiss was enough to give her the answer she needed and she was incredibly happy about it.

"Those feelings, they never went away. They just took a backseat while we both took the time we needed to figure things out." Oliver said when they broke apart.

"And now we have." Laurel said as she gazed deeply into his eyes.

"I'm ready if you are." Oliver said.

"Bring it on." Laurel said as they kissed again and this time, they just let things escalate.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Oliver and Laurel were lying in bed of the living quarters in the bunker with Laurel just lying her head on Oliver's chest as he allowed himself to fully take in the fact that Laurel was back. And he didn't just mean back to life. She had come back to him. Something that until now had only seemed like a dream at best.

"Why are you staring at me?" Laurel asked him.

"Sorry, I'm just trying to make sure that this isn't some sort fantastic dream that you're back." Oliver said.

Laurel smiled before saying "You're not dreaming Ollie. I'm back and I'm not going anywhere."

"We need to figure out a cover story." Oliver said.

"For what?" Laurel asked.

"For your return. You weren't planning on keeping your resurrection a secret were you?" Oliver asked.

"No, of course not. But Oliver, before we do, would you mind bringing me up to speed on why you had to recruit a new team. I mean, I know that my dad left with Donna after my death and now he's in rehab and that John's in prison, but you didn't exactly tell me why or why Thea isn't suiting up anymore." Laurel said.

"After you died, the team just fell apart. You know about your dad, but Thea left because she felt like she'd jumped right out of the Lazarus Pit into being Speedy and she actually held Darhk's daughter hostage because he threatened Donna. She left because she thought that you'd tell her to get out while she still could so she could figure out who she was outside of being a vigilante, which I understood." Oliver said.

"She's right, that's exactly what I would've told her to do. But I thought she would've come back by now." Laurel said.

"She's actually retired now." Oliver said.

"Thea retired. I never thought I'd see the day." Laurel said.

"Yeah, but I'm not entirely sure that retirement suits her since she's already suited up 3 times and honestly, I'm sure I'm just imagining it, but it feels like she's been sinking lower and lower into dark waters, like she's looking for a new outlet for her aggression and I think that's as my chief of staff. She's making decisions that my mom would've, not her." Oliver said.

"I'll talk to her and get to the root of it. But what about John? He's been with you since the beginning, I didn't think he'd ever leave the team. And now I'm hearing that he's in prison?" Laurel asked.

"After you died, John was overcome by guilt. He thought and he still does think that if he hadn't trusted Andy, then you wouldn't have died. And then he killed his brother in cold blood." Oliver said.

"Wow, I never thought John would actually do that. Kill anyone in cold blood." Laurel said.

"Everyone has their breaking points Laurel and Andy just pushed John to his, especially after he threatened Lyla and JJ, John just snapped. He left the team to try and figure out where he went off track and how to get back on. He reenlisted, but that turned out to be a bad idea, since his CO turned out to be a corrupt bastard who framed John for stealing a nuclear trigger from Genesis day that his unit was sent to recover, but Walker stole it, shot the only other decent man in John's unit and framed John for it. He was in prison and, feeling he deserved to be for what he did to Andy, he didn't want to leave, thinking that was how he should do his penance." Oliver said.

"So I'm assuming you broke him out anyway?" Laurel asked and Oliver smiled at her.

"Of course. I convinced him that while he probably should do his penance, he should do it as Spartan, which caused him to agree with go along with the escape. But Prometheus tricked John out of the bunker and got him arrested. I actually got my DA Adrian Chase to agree to represent him." Oliver said.

"Wow, sounds like I missed a lot." Laurel said.

"Yeah, I promise we'll bring you up to speed slowly. But for now, we need to focus on how to tell the world that you're still alive." Oliver said.

"I'll let you come up with that, but I think we need to have another party, since the other one wasn't even really a party." Laurel said.

"True, especially since you've come home for real. I just hope that the others will come around to you." Oliver said.

"Well to be fair, even Curtis didn't know me too well, but I'm sure that once they get a chance to get to know me, they'll change their minds." Laurel said.

"As much as I'd love to continue to talk about this all day, I have to get to work." Oliver said as he finally climbed out of bed.

"The Oliver Queen I remember dating was more than happy to blow off work in favor of "playing" with me." Laurel reminded him as Oliver got dressed.

Oliver smiled at her before saying "While you have no idea how tempting that is for me, that Oliver Queen wasn't the mayor of a city that was barely holding on, plus, he was rich and didn't need to worry about making money."

"Fair point." Laurel conceded.

"Besides, I've got to work on getting John exonerated and you legally resurrected." Oliver said as he kissed her real quickly before heading out.


	4. Chapter 4

Felicity entered the bunker to see Laurel already down there, dressed for a workout.

"I see you forgot about your punishment. Training begins today." Laurel said with a wicked smirk since Felicity was dressed the way she normally did.

"How did you get down here before I did? I'm always the first one down here." Felicity said.

"Well I can't exactly go home since the world still thinks I'm dead, so I never left last night. But now that you're here, what do you say I start your training." Laurel said.

"I would, but I forgot my workout clothes." Felicity said weakly.

"You forgot that you keep a spare pair here for exactly that situation. Go change and then we can get to work." Laurel said.

"I should've listened to Curtis and not come into work today." Felicity grumbled as she walked off to change, causing Laurel to roll her eyes.

* * *

"Oliver, are you okay, you seem distracted." Adrian said, trying to get Oliver's attention as they waited for the guards to bring Diggle out.

"Yeah sorry, I just have an old friend in town that I'm planning on catching up with later." Oliver said.

"It's fine, but remember, you asked me to do this, so I need to make sure that you're focused on the task at hand." Chase said as John entered the room.

"How you holding up?" Chase asked John.

"Well, Walker's gonna have custody of me in a week, so- Wow." John said.

"As soon as Walker gets his hands on John, he's gonna throw him into a hole." Oliver said.

"Maybe not." Chase said, causing both Oliver and John to look at him.

"I've got a buddy at the National Security Agency. Turns out they have General Walker under investigation and were putting together quite the case- wire transfers and some Keyhole satellite images of his movements with the nuclear trigger." Chase said.

"That's enough to exonerate John." Oliver said happily.

"Except I don't like the way you just said, "were Building a case" just now." John pointed out.

"Walker has friends in high places. Managed to get the investigation slow-rolled." Chase admitted sadly.

"But the file still exists." Oliver confirmed.

"I made a FOIA request, but seeing as all this is classified, that could take months, maybe even years." Chase confirmed.

"That's time we don't have." Oliver said.

"I'm sorry I don't have better news." Chase apologized.

"No, Adrian. You have gone above and beyond already." Oliver said as he shook Chase's hand.

"Thank you." Chase said as he left.

"Well, Felicity's going to really enjoy hacking the NSA." Oliver said.

"You mean after Laurel puts her through the works?" John asked with a smile.

"I'm not even going to ask how you know about that, but I think I'll put Felicity's punishment on hold until after you're a free man." Oliver said.

"I appreciate it. Speaking of Laurel, how is she?" John asked.

"She's adjusting well so far, though to be fair, it's only been a day. I'm working with Lyla now to establish a cover for her." Oliver said.

"Does she know about?" John asked.

"Yeah, I told her about your little guilt trip and she doesn't blame you for what happened." Oliver said.

"I appreciate that, that you understand that I still need to hear her say it before I can believe it." John said.

Oliver smiled before saying "Yeah, trust me, she would be here if she could, but well, being dead has it's disadvantages."

"You would know. But anyways, does her dad know yet?" John asked.

"We decided that for Quentin's own mental health and recovery, it would probably be best until after Laurel's return has been made public so he doesn't end up spending more time in rehab then he has to." Oliver said.

"He's gonna be pissed." John said.

"You and I both know that's not true. He'll understand." Oliver said.

"And what about you? How are you dealing with the fact that Laurel's alive?" John asked with a smile.

"Is it that obvious?" Oliver asked.

"Only to someone who knows you as well as I do. I know that you never really stopped loving her." John said.

"You're right, I didn't. And now she knows it." Oliver said as his phone buzzed.

"I gotta get back to the office, hopefully the next time I see you will be when you're a free man." Oliver said.

"Tell Laurel I said hello." John said.

"Trust me, I will." Oliver said as he got up to leave.

* * *

"Lyla, what a surprise." Oliver said as he entered his office to see Lyla standing there.

"I thought we should get the story straight as soon as possible. Especially since Laurel isn't the only person I have a cover story for." Lyla said.

"Who else is there?" Oliver asked.

"I got the President to agree to grant Roy a presidential pardon as a favor to the Green Arrow after saving the world from aliens." Lyla said.

"Thank you Lyla. Now I hate to do this, but I need more of your help, but this time it's for John." Oliver said.

"I'm listening." Lyla said.

"My DA Adrian Chase's friend at the NSA said that they've put together a case against Walker that could be used to exonerate John, but." Oliver said.

"Due to Walker's connections, he got the investigation slow-rolled?" Lyla assumed.

"Yep, but the file still exists and I'm hoping that you can use your Argus connections to get to it a lot faster than Felicity could hack in, especially considering she still facing consequences for her insubordination regarding Laurel." Oliver said.

"All you had to do is ask. I'll get my people on it." Lyla agreed as they then began to discuss the cover stories for Roy and Laurel.


	5. Epilogue

**Epilogue:**

After Laurel and Roy both returned from the dead and John was exonerated from prison, things on Team Arrow began to slowly go back to how they used to be, except since the recruits had chosen to ignore Oliver's orders, it led to a sort of split in the team into the A team which was Oliver, Laurel, John and Roy and the B team which was Felicity, Curtis, Rory and Rene. However, trust began to rebuild itself over time as recruits proved to Oliver that they were loyal to him and not Felicity, who's need for vengeance against became more and more of a problem to the point where Oliver had no choice but to eliminate Felicity's position from the team, since she proved that there was nothing she wouldn't do to get revenge on Prometheus for killing Billy. In order to keep her quiet about all the secrets she knew about Team Arrow, Oliver had Lyla lock Felicity up in Argus.

After defeating Prometheus, who turned out to be Oliver's former DA Adrian Chase, Thea rejoined the team and she and Roy got back together as well. Oliver continued to serve as Star City's mayor and by far its most productive one yet and had made Laurel his new DA. Following Felicity's arrest, all of her assets had been transferred to Oliver, since technically, they had been his in the first place, as had her loft, which Oliver and Laurel moved into together. They got married a few years later and had a daughter named Moira Shado Queen, who was now 8 years old and inherited her mother's sonic cry. Oliver had only recently gotten Laurel's permission to start teaching Moira archery, since she knew what her parents did at night and she kept asking her father to take her with him on his missions.


End file.
